Announcing advertisements to users of a telecommunications system

ABSTRACT

A method of and equipment for announcing advertisements to users of a telecommunications system wherein at least one advertisement is stored in electrical form in storage means of communication equipment of a user of the telecommunications system. The or each advertisement is announced to the user from the storage means in aural and/or visual form through loudspeaker and/or display means. The or each announcement is stored from the telecommunications system, advantageously during “off-peak” hours, and is regularly refreshed. The or each advertisement may be announced under control of the telecommunications system or autonomously by the communication equipment of the user.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to telecommunication systems and, morespecifically, to a telecommunications system wherein advertisements areannounced to a user through communication equipment for use with suchtelecommunications system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Operators of telecommunication networks may offer a service by whichadvertisements are transmitted to users or subscribers of thetelecommunications network, offering in return a lower call chargingrate or lower subscription fees, for example.

The advertisements are selected from an advertisement database and aretransmitted through the telecommunications system to wired or wirelesscommunication equipment of a user or subscriber of thetelecommunications system. The advertisements can be announced in auralor visual form, for example. A service of this type is disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 4,850,007.

Each time an advertisement has to be transmitted to a user, networkresources are occupied for selecting the advertisement from theadvertisement database and for transmitting same to the subscriberequipment.

European patent application 0 797 368 discloses a radiotelecommunications system to provide regional information, such asdisaster information, advertisement information and shopping informationto users connected to the radio telecommunications system within aparticular region or cell. By operating a so-called information storageswitch, the radio telecommunications system, i.e. the radio base stationproviding service to the portable telecommunication terminal of a user,to transmit its regional information which is stored in storage means ofthe portable telecommunication terminal.

Advertisement information is provided each time and during each time ofthe day at which a particular user operates the information storageswitch of his portable telecommunication terminal, including busy hours.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this type of operationsincreases the communication traffic load of the telecommunicationssystem which, in particular, is a disadvantage during peak or busy-hoursof the system.

Non-prepublished DE 196 35 610 and Patent Abstracts of Japan Vol. 097,No. 006 & JP 09 055783 both disclose a telephone card having storedadvertisements for use with a telephone set comprising a card readerdevice. Once inserted, the advertisements stored on the card will betransferred to storage means of the telephone set and displayed orannounced therefrom.

Although no network resources are occupied for announcingadvertisements, as disclosed above, it will be appreciated that thissystem lacks the possibility of announcing advertisements which are upto date, such as advertisements regarding special offers, discounts,etc. which are only valid during a limited period. Once the user buys anew telephone card, new advertisements can be announced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide networkoperators a competitive and flexible tool for offering an advertisementservice.

This and other objects and advantages of the present invention areprovided by a method of announcing advertisements to a user of atelecommunications system, said user having communication equipmentcomprising storage means for storing at least one advertisement inelectrical form, and wherein the or each advertisement is announced tosaid user from said storage means in aural and/or visual form,characterized in that the or each advertisement is stored in saidstorage means of said communication equipment by said telecommunicationssystem during off-peak hours of said telecommunications system.

Following the method according to the invention, advertisements may bestored in the storage means of the communication equipment by thetelecommunications system. This provides the possibility of having theadvertisements periodically refreshed, and in that advertisementsrelating to topical matter can be stored and announced, such as specialdiscounts, special offers, etc. By storing the advertisements in theuser equipment, network resources are only occupied once during thestorage of the advertisement data and during off-peak or off-busy hours.Thereby providing network operators a tool for making the system networkover-capacity more productive, which can be competitively used forproviding a competitive advertisement service.

The advertisements can be announced autonomously by the communicationequipment of the user and/or under the control of the telecommunicationssystem. With regard to the latter, the network resources and load forcontrolling the announcement of advertisements are very minor comparedto network resources for retrieval and transmission of advertisementsfrom a network advertisements database. Announcement of advertisementscan be controlled through appropriate signalling means, for example.

In a yet further embodiment of the method according the invention, theadvertisements may be announced during a call to one or both the callingand called party.

Further, according to the invention, the advertisements can beselectively announced dependent on the type of call. That is, the typeof advertisement, i.e. its content, may be adapted to the type of call.Further, announcement of advertisements can be blocked, for example. Thetype of call can be distinguished, among others, from the user orsubscriber number of the called party.

By announcing advertisements at the start and the end of a call, at suchtime when there are no network resources involved, with the methodaccording to the invention, a very cost-effective service is provided.

Announcement of advertisements, according to another embodiment of theinvention, may be preceded, by an appropriate signalling, such as aspoken or other aural and/or visual indication.

The invention provides also communication equipment, comprisingtransceiver means, control means and means for information exchange,operatively connected for exchanging calls in a telecommunicationssystem, and having storage and retrieval means, for storage andretrieval of data associated with advertisements to be announced to auser of said equipment, characterized in that said storage and retrievalmeans are operatively connected to said transceiver means, for storageof data associated with advertisements received from saidtelecommunications system.

The communication equipment may be adapted for wired and/or wirelesscommunication,such as wired and/or wireless telephones, or dataequipment like a PC-workstation adapted for exchanging calls.

According to the invention, advertisements may be exchanged in auraland/or visual form through a microphone and loudspeaker arrangement anda display of the communication equipment, if applicable.

The storage and retrieval means, according to the invention, can bearranged for storage of advertisements either or both through thetelecommunications system and suitable interface means for externalstorage. For use with telecommunication equipment, the storage meansarranged according to the invention may be provided as a separatecomponent or unit and/or provided on the Subscriber Identity Module(SIM) card, which is generally used with mobile telephone equipment.

A network operator may offer, in return to the announcement ofadvertisements, reduced call charging rates and/or reduced subscriptionfees upto free calling. Suitable arrangements in the telecommunicationssystem can be provided by suitable programming of the communicationexchange and switching equipment, such as Service Control Point (SCP)and Service Switching Point (SSP) equipment of modern IntelligentNetwork (IN) telecommunications systems like the Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN) or the Integrated Services Digital Network(ISDN) and wireless telecommunications systems, such as operating underthe Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) standard or any otherwireless communication technology available.

Accordingly, the invention provides also a telecommunications system,comprising switching means and wired and/or wireless transmission meansfor establishing transmission links with wired and/or wirelesscommunication equipment having storage and retrieval means for storageand retrieval of data associated with advertisements to be announced toa user of said communication equipment, characterized in that saidtelecommunications system is arranged for transmitting data associatedwith advertisements to be announced for storage in said storage means ofsaid communication equipment during “off-peak” hours of saidcommunications system.

Further, means may be provided for announcing advertisements from thestorage means of the user communication equipment, under the control ofthe telecommunications system.

The invention is described in more detail in the following description,with reference to the enclosed drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 shows a simplified block diagram of a telecommunications devicearranged in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a simplified block diagram of a telecommunications systemproviding wired and/or wireless telecommunications services, arrangedfor storage of data associated with advertisements in storage means ofuser communication equipment.

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a telecommunications device or equipment 1 in accordancewith the present invention, comprising operatively connected transceivermeans 2 and control means 3. Information is exchanged through either orboth a microphone/loudspeaker arrangement 4 and a display 5, whichoperatively connect to the transceiver means 2 and are controlled by thecontrol means 3.

Reference numeral 6 designates keyboard means, such, as a standardtelephone keyboard or a computer keyboard, what ever appropriate.

In accordance with the invention, storage and retrieval means 7 connectto the transceiver means 2 for storage and retrieval of data associatedwith advertisements to be announced to a user of the device 1. Thestorage and retrieval means 7 connect for control purposes to thecontrol means 3.

The communication device 1 may be arranged as a wired or wirelesstelephone or a personal computer supporting communications services. Inthe case of a wireless telecommunications device, the transceiver means2 comprise suitable RF-transmission means, whereas in the case of awired telephone the transceiver means are arranged for transmission ofinformation through a drop line of a wired telecommunications system.

In accordance with the invention, the storage and retrieval means 7 arearranged for announcing advertisements to the user of thetelecommunications device 1, using the microphone/loudspeakerarrangement 4 and/or the display 5. Announcement of the advertisementsis controlled through the control means 3. However, separate controlmeans may be provided (not shown).

The advertisements can be announced independent whether a call is inprogress or not. Advertisements may be preceded by a suitable signallingsuch as a tone or other aural or visual indication.

Following the invention, advertisements are stored in the storage andretrieval means 7 via the telecommunications system, i.e. thetransceiver means 2 connecting to the storage and retrieval means 7. Theinterface means 8 are optional and can be arranged for data exchangethrough a Personal Computer (PC), a data network like the Internet etc.

The control means 3 or any additional control means (not shown) can bearranged for announcement of a call dependent on the called party. Forexample by analysing the extension number of the called party. Further,advertisements may be announced at a particular time of the day throughsuitable timing means (not shown). Following the method according to theinvention, advertisements may be announced to both the called andcalling party by appropriate control of the transceiver means 2 etc.

As indicated by broken lines, the storage means 7 and the optionalinterface 8 may be provided as a separate unit 9 for use with acommunication device in accordance with the present invention. Thestorage means 7 may also be arranged on or in the Subscriber IdentityModule (SIM) card, as used with mobile telecommunication equipment.

FIG. 2 shows a so-called Intelligent Network (IN) telecommunicationssystem 10 comprising a wired telecommunication network 20, such as thePublic Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or the Integrated ServicesDigital Network (ISDN), and a wireless telecommunications network 30,such as the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) radio network.For clarification purposes, just a single wireless telecommunicationsnetwork is shown. In practice, several wireless communication networksoperated by different operators can be provided, among others also alocal wireless telecommunications system, such as a system operating inaccordance with the Cordless Telecommunication Mobility (CTM) standard.

In the wired telecommunications system 20, users 11, 12 and 14 connectby a Local Exchange (LE) 22 to a Trunk Exchange (TE) 21. The TE 21connect through trunk transmission links in order to exchange hightraffic volumes. The users 11 and 14 connect directly to thecorresponding LE 22. User 12 connects to its LE 22 via an intermediatePrivate Automatic Branche exchange (PABX) 13.

According to the IN concept, the TE 21 are of the type comprisingService Switching Point (SSP) equipment 23. The SSP 23 control theirassociated TE in order to establish transmission links between the users11, 12, 14 of the wired telecommunications network 20. The SSP 23 may bearranged for billing of transmission links and calls.

Each SSP 23 connects by signalling links 25 to service Control Point(SCP) equipment 24. The SCP control services available to the users ofthe network. IN telecommunication networks of this type are generallyknown to those skilled in the art.

The wireless telecommunications network 30 comprises mobile users 31,illustratively depicted in the form of a car. By means of a radio link33 the user 31 connects by his telecommunications equipment 32 withtransceiver means 34 of a radio base station 35. In practice, a wirelesstelecommunications network 30, such as operating in accordance with theGSM standard, comprises a plurality of radio base stations 35, eachproviding service to a specific geographic region, called a cell.

The radio base stations 35 connect by a Mobile Telephone SwitchingOffice (MTSO) 36 to a TE 21. Through this connection, communication canbe established between a user of the fixed or wired network 20 and usersof the wireless network 30.

As schematically indicated in FIG. 2, user 14 is provided with storagemeans 15 for storing data relating to advertisements. The user 31 may beprovided with communication equipment 1, as shown in FIG. 1, wherein thetransceiver means 2 are arranged as radio transceiver means.

In the embodiment shown, both the wired telecommunications network 20and the wireless telecommunications network 30 are provided with meansfor storing advertisements in the storage means 15 and 7. In the wirednetwork, an advertisement data base 27 and control means 26 areprovided, for transmitting advertisement data to the user 14, i.e. itsstorage means 15 and/or the user 31. The wireless telecommunicationnetwork 30 is provided with data base means 38 for advertisement dataand control means 37 for storing advertisement data from the data base38 in the storage means 7, 15 of the user equipment.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that it is not a prerequisitethat both networks are provided with advertisement data base means andappropriate control means.

The control means 26, 37 may be arranged for transmitting advertisementdata during off-peak hours, for controlling the announcement ofadvertisements from the storage means 7, 15 of the user equipment 1, 14during particular events, such as the start and the end of a call,during a particular time of the day etc. Such, as discussed above.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the telecommunicationsdevice 1 and the telecommunications systems 10 may be build fromcomponents known and commercially available without applying anyadditional inventive skills.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of announcing advertisements to a userof a telecommunications system, said user having communication equipmentcomprising storage means for storing at least one advertisement inelectrical form, the method comprising the steps of: announcing anadvertisement to said user from said storage means in aural and/orvisual form; and storing the advertisement in said storage means of saidcommunication equipment by said telecommunications system duringoff-peak hours of said telecommunications system wherein said step ofstoring said advertisement is performed prior to said step of announcingsaid advertisement to said user.
 2. A method according to claim 1,further comprising the step of: regularly refreshed the advertisement.3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement is announcedunder control of the telecommunications system.
 4. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the advertisement is autonomously announced by saidcommunication equipment of said user.
 5. A method according to claim 1,wherein during a call one or a plurality of advertisements is announcedto one or both the calling and called party.
 6. A method according toclaim 1, wherein an advertisement is selectively announced dependent onthe type of call.
 7. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least oneadvertisement is announced at the start or the end of a call, notinvolving any network resources.
 8. A method according to claim 1,wherein announcement of an advertisement is preceded by an appropriatesignaling.
 9. Communication equipment, comprising: transceiver means;control means; and means for information exchange, operatively connectedfor exchanging call in a telecommunications system, and having storageand retrieval means for storage and retrieval of data associated withadvertisements to be announced to a user of said equipment, wherein saidstorage and retrieval means are connected to said transceiver means forstorage of data associated with advertisements received from saidtelecommunications system during off-peak hours of saidtelecommunications system.
 10. Communication equipment according toclaim 9, wherein said control means are arranged for retrieval of datafrom said storage and retrieval means under the control of saidtelecommunications system, for one or both aural and visual announcementthrough said means for information exchange.
 11. Communication equipmentaccording to claim 9, wherein said control means autonomously retrievesdata from said storage and retrieval means for aural or visualannouncement through said means information exchange.
 12. Communicationequipment according to claim 9, further comprising: interface means forexternal storage in said storage and retrieval means of data associatedwith advertisements.
 13. Communication equipment according to claim 9,wherein the data associated with advertisements is stored in aSubscriber Identity Module (SIM) card.
 14. A telecommunications system,comprising: switching means; and wired and/or wireless transmissionmeans for establishing transmission links with wired and/or wirelesscommunication equipment having storage and retrieval means for storageand retrieval of data associated with advertisements to be announced toa user of said communication equipment, wherein said telecommunicationssystem transmits data associated with advertisements to be announced forstorage in said storage means of said communication equipment duringoff-peak hours of said communications system.
 15. A telecommunicationssystem according to claim 14, further comprising: means for announcingadvertisements from said storage means of said communication equipment,controlled by said telecommunications system.
 16. A telecommunicationssystem according to claim 14, wherein said switching means comprise orform part of an Intelligent Network (IN) comprising Service SwitchingPoint (SSP) equipment and service Control Point (SCP) equipment.
 17. Atelecommunications system according to claim 14, comprising: wirelesstransmission and switching equipment operating under the Global Systemfor Mobile communication (GSM) standard.